A wide variety of electric power supplies have been developed for use with integrated circuit and other devices. Some common examples include DC/DC converters and VRMs. In many applications, including those utilizing low voltage digital circuitry, such as microprocessors, the power supply must provide a fast dynamic response to changes or variations in the load or load requirements.
A typical DC/DC converter converts a DC voltage supplied from one or more power sources to a desired voltage. This can be accomplished using switching devices that selectively couple one or more current sources to the power supply output. By dynamically controlling the on/off timing of each switching device, the number of current sources supplying current to the output, and thus the amount of output current supplied to the load, can be dynamically controlled. This is particularly useful when, for example, a constant voltage across a variable load is desired.
As recognized by the inventor hereof, one disadvantage of many known power supplies is the effect of parasitics on circuit performance, including increased output noise levels, undesirable voltage ripple, and switching losses.